In Which Karma Is A Dumb Dork But That's Okay
by TrashFox
Summary: 3-E is challenged to another sports contest but honestly, they're getting a little sick of all the bets and unfair contests. And then a certain redhead ends up sick but is too stubborn to actually admit it. -Or what happens when I try to combine a sports theme with a sick Karma prompt. Mainly Karma-centric. Karmagisa friendship. Oneshot.


"A volleyball tournament?!"

It was hard to say who the exclamation came from but they were all surprised at this new announcement from the main campus.

Karasuma sensei nodded, "Yes, we've just received an announcement from the main building. The A class issued a challenge to you guys."

The rest of the class erupted in protests. Sure, it had been nice to beat them on Sports day but they were getting a little sick of all the bets and competition with Class A. And it kept cutting into their assassination planning time. Proving themselves to the main building and getting some revenge for all the humiliation was nice and all but assassination was still their first priority.

This time Koro sensei stepped forward and addressed them, "All of you have done brilliantly so far and honed your blades very well. You've finally gotten the acknowledgement you wanted to receive from the main campus students, from class A. Is this really the time to back down?"

The class exchanged glances with each other. Well. Their octopus of a teacher did have a point. But they still felt a little reluctant about the whole thing. Class A was undoubtedly going to cheat to win and they really didn't want to deal with another bet.

A green knife came flying from the back of the classroom and embedded itself into the blackboard at the front of the class. Considering it was made from the rubbery anti-sensei material, the amount of strength it must've been thrown with...

Everyone turned to face the person who'd thrown it. Karma was leaning his chair back on two legs with his legs crossed over his desk, a smirk painted on his lips. "What are you guys so scared of? Haven't you all been playing Assassination Volleyball all this time in order to kill that octopus? Do you really think those goons stand a chance?"

The redhead leaned forward, removing his legs from his desk and slammed his hand on it, "It's simple, isn't it? We just have to assassinate them."

The students all broke out into loud chatter. He had a point, they decided. Their attention was drawn back to the front by their P.E. instructor who pinched the bridge of his nose, "Unfortunately, it does not seem we can refuse this challenge. The Chairman has insisted that 3-E win if they want to continue with this Assassination Classroom or otherwise he'll be forced to remove that guy" here, he pointed at Koro sensei, "for interfering with your schooling."

What a load of crap, was the common opinion of the whole class. But they were completely unsurprised by this turn of events, this sort of thing was only par for the course when it came to the Chairman and his methods.

Isogai looked around at the rest of the class, noting the looks of determination on all their faces. "It's decided then. We accept their challenge, Karasuma sensei."

The man let out a relieved sigh before pulling out his cellphone, "Alright then, I'll inform them that you guys accepted. The time is set for Saturday morning in 4 days." With those words, he stepped out of the class, leaving them to continue their lesson with Korosensei.

- _linebreak_ -

- _Friday afternoon, after class_ -

"Karma-kun, wait!"

The redhead turned around and waited at the doorway of the classroom for his blue haired friend to catch up. They'd all been practicing for the volleyball tournament over the past few days, even staying back till evening after class.

Usually, Karma preferred to skip that sort of thing but since he was the one who'd encouraged the class to accept the challenge, he felt sort of... responsible. And he didn't want to lose his chance at assassinating that octopus over something stupid like this. So he had been attending the practices with the others.

Practice had been cancelled today however due to the heavy downpour of rain that had started suddenly right before class ended. Korosensei had taken one look outside before announcing that they were all to head straight back home and not try to practice foolishly in this sort of weather. As it was practically raining cats and dogs outside, they had all agreed without arguing.

"How are you planning to get home in this weather?" Ah. Nagisa had finally caught up with him. The blue haired boy fumbled with something inside his bag before pulling out an azure coloured umbrella, just a shade lighter than his own sky blue hair. Karma recognized it. Nagisa had always kept the same umbrella in his bag all throughout their middle school years. He was always prepared in small ways like that.

Since Karma didn't let something like the weather bother him, he'd never bothered to bring one himself. He even liked getting drenched in the rain on certain days, something about the howling wind and raging storms calling out to him. But his friend had often insisted and made him share his umbrella.

Nagisa opened his mouth but the redhead cut him off before he could offer to share his umbrella, as the redhead caught sight of someone familiar shifting uncomfortably a few seats away. "Kayano looks like she forgot her umbrella today. Shouldn't you help her?"

The shorter male whirled around to look at the green haired girl, noticing the same thing Karma had. Kayano's intense dislike for water was well known after all. He fidgeted uncomfortably, unable to decide between his two friends. The redhead made the decision for him and pushed him towards the girl, "Go to her. I'll be fine, this much rain is nothing."

And before his friend could protest, Karma raced outside into the rain yelling bye. The rain fell in sheets over his head and he was instantly drenched but he didn't regret it. Part of him almost revelled in the chaotic weather as he made his way down the mountain and back to his home.

Besides, there was nothing wrong with giving those two some time together in his opinion. More blackmail material and the whole thing was sort of amusing to watch.

- _linebreak-_

It was only hours later, with his face red and blotchy and his head feeling like cotton that regret set in. This was so not the time for him to be falling sick dammit.

His body disagreed in the form of a loud sneeze.

With a groan, he rolled over under the sheets to grab medicine and water from his nightstand and gulped it down, hoping that with some medicine and sleep, he'd feel better in the morning. Even if the aches he could feel all over his body said otherwise.

He closed his eyes and tried to will himself to sleep, trying to ignore the quiet that echoed around his large empty house. He was used to taking care of himself so he didn't really mind being alone but at times like these when he couldn't move and was left alone with his thoughts, it was almost unbearable. Hopefully the medicine would kick in soon and knock him out.

It's okay, he could make it tomorrow. It was only a simple game after all, nothing all that strenuous. Akabane Karma was not going to let a stupid cold keep him down.

His last thought before giving into the land of sleep was that Nagisa would kill him if he found out.

- _linebreak_ -

Nagisa kept darting concerned looks at the redhead that was standing besides him. They were all gathered together to go over the last minute plans for the volleyball match, all of them dressed in the school assigned P.E. Uniforms.

The boys and girls were playing separately but he wasn't worried about the girls. With the likes of Kataoka, Okano and Hayami on the girls volleyball team, they'd do just fine. Besides while Class A as a whole was formidable, it was really the Five Virtuosos and Asano they had to look out for, a problem which the boys had to deal with, much to their annoyance.

The boys volleyball team consisted of Isogai, Maehara, Karma, Kimura, Terasaka and Yoshida. While Karma, Terasaka and Yoshida were obvious choices due to their height and physiques, the remaining 3 had been a harder choice. Kimura had been selected due to his speed and his high jumping power and they'd rounded out the team with Isogai and Maehara's teamwork and their overall balanced sports ability. Of course the other boys had trained with them too in case one of them needed to be switched out.

Something which looked pretty likely considering some of the members class A had on their volleyball team. Did they even go to this school?

( _Asano may or may not have called in a few favours to have some of the best under 19 volleyball talents in Japan sent to their class for a temporary school exchange program but nobody needed to know of that.)_

Nagisa himself was one of the students on the bench along with Sugino, Chiba and Sugaya.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw someone beside him stumble. Red strands gleaming under the sun. Karma. Nagisa had instantly reached out to support him but the redhead waved him off with a grin and a remark to get off the court before the game started.

He frowned as he made his way to the bench and watched their selected team throw a few practice balls on the court. Feeling a nudge, he turned to face the person sitting beside him. "What's up, man? You look really bothered about something," Sugino whispered to him.

The blue haired boy sighed and answered, "Karma-kun. He seems kind of... out of it."

His friend frowned before darting a look over at the mentioned male, "He looks fine to me. He's even teasing Terasaka like he normally does, look." And indeed that's exactly what the redhead was doing, with his tongue sticking out and demonic glee in his eyes. Nagisa shook his head in bemusement and wondered if it was simply his imagination.

Maybe he was just worrying too much. Because the redhead had rushed off into that stormy weather yesterday recklessly, he'd been concerned.

But Karma would tell them if he was sick, _right_? He couldn't be that stubborn, could he?

Oh who was he even kidding. The redhead was stubborn enough to make mules looks docile. He decided to keep a closer eye on his friend, just in case.

As expected, it was a difficult match. Their opponents were all insanely good. It was ridiculous, there was no way these were ordinary middle school kids. Thankfully, neither were they. They'd managed to hold on somehow through the first set, winning it due to Isogai's leadership and Karma's talent for messing with his opponent's heads. Everytime the redhead was rotated to the front guard, their defence was unbreakable and had the added bonus of pissing off their opponents so much that they could score goals.

Unfortunately, Asano seemed to have predicted this and aimed to make maximum use of the time when all the taller ones in the class E team were rotated to the back and swiftly scored in those moments. So it was a very close game.

After the first set, a timeout was called to give the players a break. Towels and water bottles were swiftly handed out to the returning members who accepted them gratefully as they took a seat on the bench. Karma slumped on the bench besides Nagisa, holding the cool bottle to his forehead. It felt like someone was beating a sledgehammer against his skull from the inside and his vision was starting to swim. His skin felt clammy and sweat dripped down his back.

Inwardly, he cussed to himself, trying to block out the chatter from his classmates, the noise only making his head pound more. He'd barely lasted through that first game. Karma honestly wasn't sure _how_ he'd managed to stay on his feet the entire time.

"Here," he heard a gentle voice and saw a packet of strawberry milk being offered. Looking up, he realized it was Nagisa offering it to him. Or at least, it looked like two of his short blue haired friend to his brain. Karma bit back the pained whimper rising up in his throat as the throbbing in his skull increased and accepted the offered drink with a muttered thanks. He hoped the other hadn't noticed just how hoarse his voice had sounded.

"Are you okay?" His head shot up to face the blue haired male who was fiddling with the rubber bands around his wrist. Karma instantly regretted the movement as it made the world spin dizzyingly for a few seconds in front of his eyes, which were burning like hell.

But he shook his head and forced out a chuckle, "What are you saying, Nagisa-kun? I'm doing fine, see?" To accentuate his point, he slurped a long sip of milk from his drink, bringing up his daredevil grin on his face. If Karma's head hadn't been so fuzzy, he would've noticed Nagisa's eyes narrowing thoughtfully at him.

As it was, the call for them to return to the court was made and Karma forced himself to his feet, gritting his teeth as he made himself move. He could barely feel anything by this point. It almost felt like he was moving in a hazy dream. Or was he even moving? It didn't matter because there was a weird humming in his ears that was steadily growing louder and his vision was going black with each step.

The last thing the redhead registered before going down like a sack of potatoes was the sound of Maehara's voice shouting his name from besides him before everything went black.

- _linebreak_ -

When he came to, he was looking up at the white ceiling of his bedroom. And his everything hurt like a bitch. At least his vision wasn't spinning like Korosensei tied up as a piñata anymore so that was some improvement.

"You're awake!" He half rolled off his bed into a defensive position in surprise before recognizing the blue haired boy sitting besides his bed. With a grunt, he let his sick body drop back into the bed.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to surprise you. Korosensei needed my help to bring you home since I'm the only one who knows your address and you were..." Unconscious, he doesn't say but they both know it.

The redhead rolled over so that he was facing the other male, "What happened with the match? And how long was I passed out?" He started coughing violently as soon as he's finished voicing the questions. His throat felt like the inside of a sewage with toxic waste, burning and itching. When he was handed a glass of water, he accepted it gratefully before gulping down the lukewarm water that felt like heaven to his sore throat.

"We won the match, don't worry. When they saw you faint like that because you worked yourself too hard even when you were sick, everyone got really upset. Asano's face was really something to see, by the end." And here, a breathless chuckle escapes him because he can almost imagine the rest of 3-E getting furious on his behalf and stomping all over class A. He also feels a warm fuzzy feeling in his chest but puts it down to his sickness because he's Karma and he does not do fuzzy feels.

"And it's close to 2pm so you were out for close to 4 hrs. You really scared us when you passed out like that." Nagisa is scowling at him, he can tell from that tone of voice but he's too busy avoiding looking at the bluenette because Karma just knows he's going to feel stupid if he sees those concerned blue eyes looking at him. It's rare for his friend's patience to run out but he's seen it happen before when the redhead got hurt in a fight once.

He's half expecting a lecture to take better care of himself but instead the bluenette just sighs, "Talk to us next time. You were running a really high fever when you passed out, you know. It was... just depend upon the rest of us a bit more. You don't have to do everything by yourself." Fuck. A throb of guilt shoots through him because he recognizes that tone and he just knows Nagisa is beating himself up over this, blaming himself for not noticing.

Karma hesitates before reaching over to pat whatever part of his friend was nearby, finding a knee to pat. "T'wasn't your fault. Don't blame yourself, Nagisa-kun." He's not sure if his words even make sense since he had to force his aching throat to mumble those words. But he feels the way the tension seeps out from the knee under his palm and it's worth the searing pain in his throat. Even if he breaks out into another fit of coughs.

Once the coughing has stopped, he looks up at the ceiling, trying to find words to say before he realises something. What's Nagisa still doing in his house? They must've dropped him off ages ago, at least by noon.

He turns his head to address his friend but the bluenette must've guessed his thoughts because he answered, "There was nobody at home so... I said I would stay and watch over you for a while." He shrugs and tries to drag his covers up. Now that his concerns were mostly put to rest, sleep was catching up with him again. He wasn't really bothered about leaving the bluenette free reign over his house. It's not like this is the first time Nagisa is over, visiting while his parents are away travelling.

"Wait Karma-kun! At least eat something and take your medicine before you go back to sleep." The redhead grunted in irritation before slowly dragging his body into a sitting position. At least his head doesn't hurt anymore. It still feels rather woozy and stuffed though.

"Hara-san made you some porridge," and he's almost thankful because he's absolutely sure that trying to eat solid food with his throat like this would be a disaster. "And Koro sensei recommended some medicine that he said works really well. And Okuda-san worked together with Hara-san to make nutrition shakes for you to drink. She said they're strawberry flavoured." Those are not warm fuzzy feelings in his chest, the redhead resolutely tells himself but he's well aware that it's a lie that he doesn't even believe himself but that's okay because... It's not bad, being cared for and fussed over, like this.

Karma leans back against the head of the bed and lets Nagisa place a bowl of porridge on his lap. He does however refuse the other's help with eating because sick or not, there are some things he's just not going to depend on others for.

They spend the rest of time like this, his friend doing most of the talking while he slowly eats the delicious porridge. Once he's finished eating, he feels- not better exactly but his limbs don't feel like limp noodles anymore and speaking isn't murder on his throat.

Accepting the medicine and the glass of water, he tells Nagisa to go back home because he's okay now and he can handle himself from here. The bluenette frowns but lets it go, instead promising to come visit tomorrow with some of their other classmates who'd also wanted to check on him. He's too sleepy to protest against the idea as the medicine is already kicking in so he drifts to sleep.

The sound of the door closing is the last sound he hears before he passes out, a wave of something nostalgic flowing through him with the sound, like the smell of the Indian incense that always reminds him of home and his parents.

- _linebreak_ -

A/N: Hello and thank you for reading! I don't know where I was even planning to go with this fic but once I started writing, it completely went out of my control and ended up as this. This was originally meant to be my entry for the sports challenge on Assassination Classroom Amino but I'll probably write a different one for that later since Karma completely took over this one lol.

Parts of it feel somewhat choppy to me but that's because Karma is sick af and somewhat out of it due to that. And probably due to this being the first fic I've published on here hhhh

This fic accidentally ended up as a deeper look at Karma's side of things without meaning to. Our redhead daredevil is really independent but even he needs support sometimes whether he admits it or not. His parents are travelling merchants who frequently visit India so their house often smells like Indian incense and they're rarely home. Which explains a lot about his problematic personality but even he's slowly growing up to become someone dependable.

Badass or not, he's a cute dumb dork. Protect this child. Also, no this isn't a Karmagisa fic or any pairing fic. Maybe smidges of Karmagisa friendship because I adore their friendship bye.

If you have any constructive criticism or suggestions, I would love to hear them.

Edit: Fun fact, posting from the ff app removes my linebreaks :')


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